Promise
by ximcarebear
Summary: We always said promise is a big word, but in this case, it’s all we ever need. Troyella. For ZA Angels: Dee's challenge.


The day should not start.

It should be illegal. George Bush should have banned the day.

Or at least move the day to September.

I did not want to get out of bed. I did not want to brush my teeth, wash my face, change into outside clothes, and go outside. Because if I did all that, that would mean going to the airport. And sending Gabi to the airport.

I did not want this day to start. The stupid alarm rang its usual time. I want to smash it until it went to hell and rang there.

"Troy, get up. We're leaving in two hours!" I heard my mom shout. I just want to shut the door and never leave the room. That way, I don't have to see her leave.

"Troy, get the hell up!" Dad pounded furiously. I grabbed the closest thing to me: my alarm clock, and threw it at the door.

"I'm getting up!" I yelled. I threw my covers away from my body and leaped out of bed. It wasn't in those 'Today's a beautiful day!' kind of way. More like 'I don't wanna get up today!' kind of mood.

After taking a morning shower and changing into a plain white and blue Boys Like Girls t-shirt and a pair of light classic ripped jeans, I trotted downstairs to meet my parents and my twenty-four years old brother, Travis.

"What's up bro?" Travis greeted me. I nodded my head in replying. My whole family knew why I'm in this mood. I sat on the kitchen island with Travis.

"Cheer up, Troy. You can see her during holidays," my mom said. Obviously, she broke up with her high school sweetheart before leaving for college. That's not going to be like that for Gabi and me.

"It's not that easy, Mom," I answered.

"Troy, you knew from the start you guys started dating that college would come up sometime and you'd have to sacrifice the important things in your life to start a life in college. You knew it wasn't going to be easy," Dad said. He was right. Gabriella and I started dating after winter break. That was five months ago. But the five months passed and Gabriella was going to Columbia while I head to the other side of the country to UCLA. Gabriella wanted to stay for me, but Columbia was her dream college. She always wanted to go there ever since Daniella, her older cousin, went there. We even went to Columbia for a school tour and she was fascinated by the school the moment she stepped onto the campus.

"I know it was going to happen, okay Dad? I'm just dreading the day. I'll be fine by the time I graduate from college."

"Honey, don't be so negative. Why don't you go over to Gabriella for her goodbye party?" Mom suggested. It's more like a demand than a suggestion since I know she's tired of my depression of this day.

"I'll see you tomorrow then." I got up to hug my parents and hand-shook Travis.

"Tell Gabi to have a nice trip," Travis called out before I shut the door behind me. Yeah, Gabi, have a nice trip.

* * *

"Hey Troy!" The door opened to reveal a person, not the person who I wanted to see, but this person should be fine for now. Sharpay launched herself into a big hug that suffocated me for a moment.

"Shar, he's getting white," Zeke popped up. Sharpay's face turned red and released herself. She walked over and gave her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek.

"Troy's late. I'm just trying to choke him so he won't be late again for his own girlfriend's party." I gave them a small smile. Thanks for reminding me.

"Speaks of, where's that own girlfriend of mine?" I spoke up.

"She's crying with Taylor. I don't understand. They're going to the same university." It's so like Sharpay Evans to not get why they're crying together. Taylor decided to go to Stanford because her parents told her she got a scholarship just before she was about to accept to Columbia. For being the Scholastic Decathlon captain for three years ever since sophomore year, Stanford was impressed with her academic skills, her 4.5 GPA, and her dedication toward the science center in Albuquerque. In the end of her conference with Stanford and her parents, Taylor decided to go to Stanford and if she doesn't feel right there, she can transfer to Columbia. I guess Gabriella just got the news since Taylor only told Chad since she made her decision. Chad is going to UC Berkeley so he can be closer to Taylor. Unfortunately, UCLA is only college that offered me a scholarship so I'm going there. My dad didn't want to pay for college since UCLA is such a good school. The only disadvantage is that I can't visit Gabriella as often.

"I'll go check on them," I volunteered as I left Zeke and Sharpay talking. I wandered around finding many people from our class here and also seeing Chad and Jason outside throwing water balloons at each other. Passing by Kelsi and Martha looking like they're in a very serious conversation, I finally found Gabi and Taylor with mascara stains on their cheeks and hugging each other every once in a while. I approached them.

"Hey baby. Hey Tay." Gabi turned around and gave me a huge hug. I hugged her back, looking at Taylor grabbing a napkin from the food table and wiping her mascara stains. Gabi still had hers.

"I'm gonna miss you so much. You have to visit me," Gabi said sobbing very hard. I laughed as I hugged her again and wiped her mascara stains with my thumbs. I grabbed a napkin and wiped the rest off.

"Of course I will. You gotta visit me too." Gabriella huffed dramatically.

"Yeah right. You're half way on the other side of the country. It's seriously impossible for us to visit each other. It'll be like, once every six months!" I chuckled at her thespian tone.

"Not likely. We'll see each other during holidays. Holidays aren't practically six months away from each other. Always count everyone's birthdays as holidays." Gabriella giggled at my joke.

"I guess. My mom's not going to move anywhere since I'm in college so we'll be able to see each other here in Albuquerque."

"Exactly."

"I'll talk to you later, Gabs. You need the time with your bee eff," Taylor said, using instant message acronyms. Gabriella hugged her best friend one last time before Taylor walked away, most likely to stop Chad from wetting himself with more water balloons.

"Troy, you sure you can handle a long distance relationship?" Gabi spoke up. I looked at her in her eyes. I could tell she was very concern for this answer.

"Honestly, I don't know. I want to go to UCLA and tell everyone that Gabriella Montez is my girlfriend, but they'll just think I'm making you up because I might be some nerd who never had a girlfriend." Gabriella giggled. "Do you want an open relationship instead? Like we can casual date anybody but still be boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"Will you be jealous?" Will I? I don't know. Gabi isn't the jealous type. That I know for sure. But me? I've never really trusted guys around Gabi when they're trying to flirt with her. That is, only if I found out.

"I doubt I'll date anybody without you being there pushing those girls away from me."

"Me neither." I looked down at our hands laced together. I'm going to miss those soft hands.

"The open relationship idea is getting worse in my head. Let's cross that out," I confessed. She nodded and laid her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her waist and quickly pulled her legs up. She squealed in my arms, afraid that she's going to fall. She's been on this ride many times. I carried her upstairs to her room, passing by other people who were greeting with 'Goodbye Gabriella! We'll miss you!' and 'Troy, where are you taking her?'. My foot slammed the door behind us as I threw her on her bed.

"Violent, are you?" I grinned as I crashed my lips onto her. I was eager to kiss all over her body, but I was patient. Like I said, she's been on this ride many times.

* * *

Gabriella had a late flight to New York City. She already packed the night before so she could worry about the goodbye party she had just a few hours ago. And now we're going to the airport to drop her off. It was really sad to see her go first to college when we're all leaving in September. I guess Columbia really wants her to go.

Dad and Travis are sitting in the front seats while Mom and Mrs. Montez sat in the middle seat. Gabi and I sat in the back. Our parents knew we'd want some time to ourselves. Gabi was in my arms right now sleeping since our activities got her really tired. We showered and dressed before Mrs. Montez got home so she wouldn't get suspicious although we kind of think she already knows from our lack of clean up (the condoms were thrown somewhere). My parents and Travis came to Gabi's house so we can all drive together to the airport to send Gabi off. Boy, I'm going to miss her.

We arrived at the airport. Travis and Dad helped with Gabi's luggage while I carried her out of the car. She soon woke up from moving her so much.

"Are we at the airport yet?" I nodded sadly. She noticed my mood and kissed me on the lips. "We'll have our goodbyes later. Right now, I need you to be happy for me." I gave her a small smile and she kissed me again. "Thanks." She grabbed one of her luggage and pulled it into the airport. Dad and Travis pulled the rest while I walked in with Mom and Mrs. Montez.

We checked Gabi in and found out her flight leaves in a half an hour so that gives us a few minutes for us to say goodbye before she can settle down in her plane. We stopped at the terminal. Mom and Mrs. Montez both cried and hugged Gabi, wishing her good luck in college and hope she'll visit on holidays. Of course, Gabi agreed and promised to call a few times a week. After the mothers let go, Dad hugged Gabi goodbye and told her to keep the Wildcat spirit inside. Gabi giggled and nodded in agreement. Travis hugged Gabi after and kissed her cheek, telling her to never forget his goofiness. She giggled again and told him that she'll always come back to Albuquerque just to see his goofiness. So everyone had their turn to say goodbye and now it's my turn. I went up to her and took her in my arms.

"I'm gonna really miss you," I mumbled into her ear. She clung onto me tighter.

"Can you promise me something?" I pulled back to look at her face.

"Sure. Anything for you."

"Once we're done with college, if we're both single and looking, we'll meet at the park under our tree." I smiled and kissed her.

"Of course."

"Promise?" We always said promise is a big word, but in this case, it's all we ever need.

"Promise." She gave me a long kiss that felt like forever until she broke it. You could see the tears falling down her face but I didn't wipe them. She's a big girl and she needs to learn that when I'm not there, she needs to wipe her own tears.

"Bye."

"More like 'I'll see you in four years'." She giggled and kissed me again.

"Then I'll see you later."

"Deal." I kissed her forehead before letting go. She grabbed the only luggage she decided to carry on the plane with her and waved goodbye to us. She walked off to the counter to hand in her plane ticket. I watched her grab her ticket back and waved goodbye to us again. She blew me a kiss as I puckered up to air-kiss her back. She gave me a sad smile before disappearing into the terminal to go on the plane.

* * *

The ride home was quiet. I didn't feel like talking to anyone and neither did the others. When we dropped off Mrs. Montez at Gabi's house, we went straight home. I collapsed on my bed, already missing Gabriella. I didn't notice myself closing my eyes and falling asleep until my phone rang a few hours later. I picked up my alarm clock to see it's three in the morning. Someone had better have a good reason to call right now.

"Hello?" I groaned into the phone.

"Hi. I just got off." I jolt myself up.

"Gabi?"

"Of course." I chuckled.

"How is it there?"

"It's nice. I just got off the plane and I can't sleep."

"Well, you just woke me up." I heard her giggle on the other end.

"I'm sorry."

"No," I said quickly. "It's fine. I want to hear your voice."

"I really miss you."

"We'll see each other over the holidays."

"But college relationships never really last when they're long distance."

"And that's why you gotta believe. You need to pray every night, hoping that we never lose contact and will meet up with each other under our tree in the park when we finish college." I heard her giggle again.

"Promise?" It's never tiring to hear the answer.

"Promise." Now I know that everything's going to be okay. You never know, you might see little Troy Junior and Gabriella Junior running around.


End file.
